from the kennedy space center in florida
this is space shuttle columbia launch
control
the countdown for launch of space
shuttle columbia on mission sts 78 is
continuing on schedule this morning the
window for launch of columbia opens at
10 49 a.m eastern time and extends for
two and a half hours
earlier this morning the external tank
was filled with about five hundred
thousand gallons of liquid propellants
and those tanking operations are just
now complete
no technical issues or problems are
being worked at this time and we
anticipate an on-time liftoff of the
shuttle columbia and the seven-member
crew from kennedy space center
again on time at 10 49 a.m eastern today
situated in columbia's payload bay is
the life and microgravity space lab
lms is housing about 43 various
experiments involving life sciences and
materials sciences
the lms mission will seek answers to
questions about our ability to sustain
life for prolonged periods of time in
space
and about the subtle mechanisms involved
in materials processing that are
obscured by earth's gravity
lms will continue to expand the
foundation of scientific research by
studying the effects of microgravity on
the physiology development and behavior
of living systems
it will also study the processes of
materials study fluid physics and grow
protein crystals in the reduced gravity
environment
columbia seven member crew consists of
three shuttle veterans and four rookie
astronauts who have not flown in space
before
this is an international mission with
four different space agencies
represented nasa the french space agency
the canadian space agency
and the european space agency which
contributed by supplying the space lab
itself
the sts-78 crew are commander tom
hendricks
pilot kevin craigel
mission specialist richard linehan susan
helms and charles brady and payload
specialist jean-jacques favier from the
french space agency and robert brent
thirsk from the canadian space agency
physiological data gathered from each
astronaut during the three months before
flight will provide a baseline with
which flight data will be compared
at this time all systems are reported to
be in good shape and we are on track for
launch today at 10 49 a.m
and we have a good thumbs up from all
seven crew members appears they are all
ready to fly
on mission sts 78 today
at this point the ice and the final
inspection team has reported back
periodically to the firing room and they
are reporting that there is nothing
out of order everything continues
everything looks smooth everything on
the vehicle looks good no debris
concerns no ice concerns and they are
expected to wrap up their operations in
the next half hour
the crew members are being assisted with
their launch and entry suits by suit
technicians from both ksc and from the
johnson space center
this is a good view of our commander tom
hendricks who was on his fourth
space flight
our pilot kevin kriegel is on his second
flight
john jacques favier
is a member of the french space agency
he is one of our payload specialists or
and will be making his first trip into
space today
susan helms is the
only female aboard the
vehicle that will be flying today and
she of course is a
veteran flyer she has flown
in 30 different types of aircraft being
named an astronaut in 1990 she has
already flown two missions scs-54 and
sts-64
mission specialist
one richard linehan is on his first
flight
and he looks like he's relaxed and
prepared to fly today
and another mission specialist charles
brady again on his first flight as well
is giving a thumbs up that he too
is ready and anxious to go
and the final member of our seven person
crew
is robert brent thirsk
representing the canadian space agency
he is a
medical doctor
he was an alternate payload specialist
for sts-41g
and in 1993 and 94 he was the canadian
space agency's chief astronaut
and here we have them our commander tom
hendricks
mission specialist susan helms followed
by pilot kevin kriegel richard linehan
charles brady jean-jacques favier
and robert brent thirst
nasa test director john guidi has given
approval for the crew to begin entry
into the vehicle once they make their
way up the elevator to the 195 foot
level
and we have views of the crew as they
are exiting the elevator on the 195 foot
level
in the background of course is the swing
arm that the crew will walk across the
orbiter access arm that will gain them
entry into the crew module
as the crew is preparing to enter the
orbiter astronaut support personnel have
mounted in their crew module a small
camera that will allow us to see live
pictures of the crew being seated in
colombia this is the first time nasa tv
has shown live pictures of this event
and to assist with the commentary of
these new views astronaut marsha ivins
is joining us to describe the events as
they occur welcome marcia thanks
uh marcia can you describe to us what
we're looking at
sure the scene you're seeing now is the
commander's seat up on the flight deck
of columbia um that big white piece is
the head rest where his helmet will go
and the orange pieces the is the
parachute that's in the seat
uh you're looking at it as it is on the
pad so when the crew gets in of course
they'll be a lion on their back
okay the uh astronaut support person jim
halsell is uh assisting as tom hendricks
comes in
uh holding his head so it doesn't bump
into anything tom's now standing on the
ms2 seat he's holding on to a
handhold above the forward window
and now he'll pull himself up
after he gets himself unstuck here pull
himself up into the seat
as they hold the parachute down you see
the big bottles on the back of the
of his harness
you need to get those centered exactly
right on the parachute so that it's
comfortable when you're sitting in there
headrest back down on the seat now
now the suit tech
al rochford will start to adjust the
straps on his harness
so that he's
pulled down and comfortable in the seat
and then they'll start connecting the
parachute and the shoulder harnesses too
you can see uh al's got kevin's helmet
um kicked the
headrest back and kevin will lift his
head up you can see the little calm
pigtail hanging out of the back and i'll
fish his hand in there to get it
ms3 on board at this time
go ahead
okay uh ingress steps are complete with
the exception of the switch speak up
tape we'll put that in work now
copy that
uh marcia can you tell us what we're
looking at at this point
we're in the mid deck now and uh
max candler who's the sutek and he is
strapping in
uh chuck brady who's sitting in the ms3
seat
sitting in front of
chuck and the rest of the guys on the
mid deck is the whole row of or wall of
lockers that has all the stuff in it
that were
taken to space max has got
his parachute on the
harness and looks like he's got the seat
belt on
otc ms3 comm check
ms3 otc i got you loud and clear how
many
otc ms3 got you loud clear good morning
roberta good morning chuck looking good
on that camera
uh waiting in the white room
is uh the final astronaut who will be
boarding the vehicle today
jean-jacques favier of the french
space agency
and columbia
uh you guys have a good mission and uh
we'll see you back here in about a
little over two weeks and uh
have uh have fun on your mission tom
so thanks jim uh we got a crew here
that's ready to go thanks to all the
professionals here at the cape we're
ready to work with uh jsc during launch
and then the rest of the day we're ready
to put our payload crew to work with the
folks at the marshall space flight
center
and in today you're cleared along hi
copy thank you
a final test of the flight control
services is now being conducted
this is a program pattern of movements
designed to verify the readiness for
launch of the engines and other flight
control surfaces
and final error surface checks of the
orbiter's aerial surfaces are being
completed this is verifying the
orbiter's hydraulic systems
and the main engines are being gibbled
for a final test before launch
flight crews otc close the molecule
visors and initiate o2 flow have a great
flight and have more fun than a barrel
of monkeys
we have a go for maintenance and start
five
four
three
two
one
and we have liftoff of this spatial
columbia on an international life
science and microgravity mission
houston now controlling the flight of
colombia
roger royal columbia
columbia completes the role to place the
shuttle in a heads down wings level
position for the eight and a half minute
ride to orbit
23 seconds into the flight columbia's
three liquid fuel main engines will soon
begin to throttle back in a three-step
fashion to 67 percent of rated
performance that will dampen the stress
on the shuttle's aero surfaces as it
breaks through the sound barrier
45 seconds into the flight
columbia already traveling at 711 miles
per hour two and a half miles downrange
from the kennedy space center
the three engines now beginning to rev
up to full throttle 104 of rated
performance those main engines along
with columbia's three fuel cells and
three hydraulic power units all
functioning normally
booster officer here in mission control
standing by for solid rocket booster
shutdown and separation about five
seconds from now
booster officer confirms a normal solid
rocket booster separation standing by
for the performance call
columbia performance
nominal performance
you